


Will Graham and the True Crime Club

by staringatafterimages



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Dark Academia, Hannibal is Hannibal, M/M, Murder Mystery, True Crime, Yearning, scooby doo but its hannibal, will graham as the exhausted senior, will graham solves the zodiac killer?? NOT CLICKBAIT
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:33:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26304205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/staringatafterimages/pseuds/staringatafterimages
Summary: Will is a senior crime and legal studies major and Hannibal is the mysterious international student who manages to charm his way into the True Crime Club (and everyone's hearts). When The Gang gets way too into solving murders instead of just talking about them, Will starts to think the killer may be closer than they all realize.
Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I literally cannot promise you that I will even update this let alone finish it but here you go <3  
> I don't own Hannibal all rights to NBC whatever else I need to say to not get sued

Will Graham put off taking Psychology 101 as long as he possibly could, but now it was senior year and his advisor started getting pushy. “Most Crime and Legal Studies majors take this course the first semester of freshman year,” she had said. “I’m pretty sure all your friends have taken it too, just to get their Social Science requirement out of the way.”

He had snorted at the term “friends”, which he realized now was inappropriate, but it was too late for any take-backs. Here he was, stuck listening to Fredericka Lounds talk for a full three minutes about how fascinating psychopaths were, and the ever-patient professor with a slight Texas drawl trying desperately to explain to her that mental illnesses wouldn’t be covered until chapter four. 

The international student next to him (some sort of European) noticed him grimace and Will caught his understanding smirk without meaning to. He wasn’t really interested in the guy (Hamish? Hamilton? Something weird, he’s sure), and if the meticulously handwritten notes on an extravagantly expensive leather notebook were anything to go by, he was way out of Will’s league to be friendly with anyways. 

Will recorded most of his classes on his cellphone, and hadn’t seen a pencil in at least six months. 

(Hamlet?) surprised him, though, when he cleared his throat and said, “Ms. Lounds, as much as we’d all love to hear about the latest Law and Order episode, I am quite interested in our professor’s lecture on the brain’s anatomy. Might we get back to that?” 

Freddie went red and her jaw snapped shut for the first time ever. A murmur of approval went around the room. The student said nothing else, but Will could tell he was preening as he arranged his pencils just so. 

He played around a bit with the idea of thanking him, but every scenario played out too stupid and the moment had passed anyways. 


	2. Chapter 2

Despite the classroom humiliation, the guy somehow landed an invitation to Freddie’s True Crime Club, and seemed more than able to make pleasant conversation with her as people trickled in. 

Will on the other hand could barely keep his resentment in check, but she was openly rude and invasive to pretty much anybody, so they maintained an acquaintanceship out of shared social incompetence. 

That was the case with almost all his “friends”, who were also in the True Crime Club. There was Zeller, his abrasive roommate from freshman year (before he realized his constant nightmares were reason enough for a single); Jimmy, the guy who had a fun fact for every topic; Bev, the Forensics Psych major who knew exactly what was wrong with you; Jack, captain of the rugby team and biggest control freak on campus--all assholes in their own right, hanging out together more out of habit now than anything else. The only exception was Alana, who was somehow sweet and compassionate amongst the rabble of odd, blunt antisocialites. 

The Club went on as usual, with Freddie leading a discussion about the serial killer of the week and promoting her own blog. It wasn’t the cheeriest of extracurriculars, but it gave the morbid tendencies of Will’s mind some direction, and Alana said it would be good for him to socialize. Jimmy was cracking some joke about Ted Cruz being the Zodiac Killer when Will said, almost without thinking, “The killer was obviously on the investigative team.” 

All faces turned to him, which was more annoying than anything else. Now he was expected to elaborate.

“Well--it was the guy on the radio that told the cops to be looking for a black suspect, which is why they completely missed him when they passed him on the road. So someone had to have called that in. And this guy is obviously a narcissist and a sadist. And police officer is one of the top jobs for psychopaths…” he went on into a rant, completely on accident, detailing the killer’s mindset and personality. 

The room was a little quiet after that. Will shrugged in his flannel uncomfortably and daydreamed about what if he could be normal and just go fishing instead of being the biggest wackjob in a room full of wackjobs. 

“Fascinating,” Exchange student-- _ Hannibal _ \--finally said. “You’re able to completely reconstruct the killer’s thinking. That’s quite a gift.” 

The attention was disconcerting and there was no way to divert it without talking even more. He abruptly stood up, mumbled something about laundry, and left. It was not his most graceful exit, but this was the path of least embarrassment, and maybe he’d get stabbed on the way back to his dorm and this nightmare would finally end. 


End file.
